Nfpa looking for enforcers!

[FM William Burns]

The National Fire Protection Association launches campaignto recruit code enforcers to technical committees

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The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) launched a recruitment campaign to increase the number of code enforcers participating on NFPA’s technical committees. NFPA has more than 200 technical committees, which create and revise codes and standards that protect people and property. NFPA seeks to have code en-forcers represent at least 20 percent of the overall technical committee membership by 2013.

“One of the greatest strengths of the NFPA standards-development process is broad participation. We work extremely hard to ensure we have a balance of interests on these committees,” said James Shannon, president of NFPA. “We need code enforcers because they have particular knowledge and experience on how our codes and standards are applied in the field. We need them to provide their expertise to the important work that is being done by our technical committees in order to advance our safety mission.

”Recent cuts in municipal budgets, including elimination of travel expenses for public employees, have made it harder for code enforcers to participate in technical committee meetings. In response to this concern, NFPA created a special fund to subsidize 80 percent of travel and lodging expenses that may come when code en-forcers participate in technical committee meetings. The assistance with these expenses is available to code enforcers who are public employees or part of the volunteer fire service.

“We created this special fund as part of our commitment to make NFPA technical committees as accessible as possible to code enforcers whose participation is needed to ensure that we have a balance of voices in the process,” said Shannon.

Recently, NFPA conducted a survey of current Technical Committee members and found a high level of satisfaction in participants. For code enforcers, participating in NFPA Technical Committees can provide an opportunity to help improve safety, a chance to network with other code professionals and a way to learn more from industry experts. In return, NFPA technical committee members are asked to participate in approximately 10 meeting days over a 3-5 year period sharing their expertise and individual perspective.To learn more about the benefits of joining an NFPA technical committee and to apply online, code enforcers can go to www.nfpa.org/enforcers.

 

[jpranch]

Wow. 80%? Now that's down right impressive. Over a 3 to 5 year period with 10 meeting days, hotel, travel, meals, and out of pocket expenses that can add up to a heck of a lot. If they are serious about this they need to cover 100% of the expenses. Why are they being so cheap?

 

[conarb]

Yeah but JP, you get to be called "Enforcers", much better than simply "Inspectors" or "Green Police".

 

[jpranch]

Well this is one thing that the ICC has right. They reimburse 100%. Travel, lodging, and meals. I did note that the NFPA offer excluded meals. Meals can be very expensive depending on where the meeting is held. Try getting a cheap meal in a Boston or Chicago hotel. Good luck. I can't wait to kick in my 20% or more. I have to wonder if the bean counter that came up with this used to work for the insurance industry?

Post Script: I'm hoping this opinion is not ticking anybody off. Just the way I see it. FM, thanks for posting this.

 

[jpranch]

By the way, ICC now has direct deposit for reimbursement making it much faster than the paper route. They also have a very well done excel spread sheet for expenses that can be submitted via email.